{"id":7,"date":"2012-04-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/05\/sunday-may-6th-2012-god-is-love\/"},"modified":"2012-04-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-may-6th-2012-god-is-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/05\/sunday-may-6th-2012-god-is-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday May 6th 2012 – God is love"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Word This Week<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>Acts 8:26-40<\/a>
<\/span>Psalm 22:25-31<\/a>
<\/span>1 John 4:7-21<\/a>
<\/span>John 15:1-8<\/a><\/p>\n

Thoughts on The Word<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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<\/span>1 John 4:7-21 (NRSV)<\/span><\/p>\n

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God\u2019s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, \u201cI love God,\u201d and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. <\/span>
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<\/span>It is one of the most often quoted phrases from scripture – we hear people say it all the time… ‘God is love’, and as is evidenced in today\u2019s reading this is true.\u00a0 God is love but what does that mean?\u00a0 How did St John the Apostle to whom this letter is attributed come to the conclusion that God is love? Well let\u2019s take a look at the world through the eyes of John.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

John was a first hand witness and close follower of Jesus, he saw him preach, and teach and he saw him reach out to the weak and the needy and to the outcasts of society. He saw him heal the sick and feed the poor.\u00a0 John also saw Jesus speak out against corruption and immorality, he watched him drive out the money changers from the temple and he saw him condemn the Pharisees for their hypocrisy.\u00a0 Finally John saw the passion of Christ, he watched Jesus get nailed to the cross, he watched him raised up and he was there when he died. \u00a0 Yes John saw love, the very essence and meaning of love personified in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.\u00a0 No-one had seen love more clearly and it was this understanding of love that led John to speak this great truth that God is love.\u00a0 John understood that if Jesus is the very essence and meaning of Love, and Jesus is God, then God is love.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

So what does all this mean for us as those who are the recipients of the fruit of God’s love – salvation through the ultimate expression of love in Christ’s sacrifice. What are we to take from this revelation that Jesus (God) is love personified? John explains it for us quite clearly – we are to follow Jesus instructions, we are to love one another as he loves us. \u00a0 We are to show God to the world through our lives and actions which should all be founded in love.\u00a0 John explains that if we base all that we do on the premise of love then we abide in God and he abides in us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reflect on that for a moment, God abides in us and we abide in him.\u00a0 It is through following the example of Jesus, through committing to living a life of love personified that we truly experience and become one with God.\u00a0 Yes love is the answer, love is the reason Jesus came down from heaven, and to love is the very essence of the commandments given to us by Jesus – We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and all our mind and all our soul – and we are to love our neighbour as ourselves.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

What is troubling is that love is often used in defence of behaviour that is against Christian principles.\u00a0 We are told not to speak out against immoral behaviour, that we should ‘live and let live’ on the basis that ‘God is love’.\u00a0 We are told that disagreeing with another persons lifestyle is wrong because ‘God is love’, and we should be welcoming and accepting of all behaviour and beliefs.\u00a0 That is not the love that Jesus showed us, and it is not the love explained to us in Scripture.\u00a0 Love sometimes means that you have to say no, it means that we must stand for what is right in the face of persecution.\u00a0 To love someone does not mean to agree with all they do, say or believe – and love demands that when we are concerned about their behaviour or beliefs that we are honest about our concerns.\u00a0 Jesus was certainly not silent when he saw behaviour that was against the will of God, we have already touched on him driving out the money changers, and making clear the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.<\/p>\n

How often do we<\/strong><\/em> hear or see others espousing the virtues of immoral or unjust behaviour and lifestyles, and yet so often we remain silent.\u00a0 We don’t speak up for fear of the repercussions, What if they don’t like me anymore? What if they make fun of me? What if I am ridiculed for adhering to these values and this faith? What if it means family members will be angry or even disown me? What if… What if … What if… <\/p>\n

What if Jesus had said what if they reject me? What if they ridicule me and beat me? What if they scourge me and nail me to a cross…?\u00a0 It’s all too hard, I’ll just go back to Nazareth and finish my days as a carpenter… Of course Jesus KNEW this would happen, he even asked the Father if there was any other way – but of course he knew there wasn’t .\u00a0 What he did\u00a0is important, when he was being prompted to move in the direction of ridicule, \u00a0pain and suffering for the sake of you and me Jesus said\u00a0\u00a0“… Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.\u201d(Luke 22:42 (ESV))\u00a0 <\/strong>Jesus, bowed to the will of the Father and did what he knew was right and necessary because of his love for us.<\/p>\n

There is this idea permeating through society that to love means that you can’t oppose bad or immoral behaviour, that to love means being completely accepting of all forms\u00a0 of behaviour – regardless of how destructive that behaviour is.\u00a0 This is of course a fallacy.\u00a0 I read a quote from Rick Warren recently which I will now paraphrase as I can’t find it – People say that you can’t love someone if you disagree with them, this is absolute rubbish. You don’t need to agree with someone to have compassion.<\/p>\n

I want to take this opportunity to also point out again that what we are talking about here is love, and if we are to stand against immoral or unjust behaviour we must always do it from a place of love and not from fear or\u00a0hatred.\u00a0 Our scripture reading tells us: Those who say, \u201cI love God,\u201d and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” <\/strong>Jesus did all he did because of his love of God and <\/em>his love of the people, he was not motivated by fear or hatred, and if we ever feel that we are acting out of any emotion\u00a0other than love we must repent and turn or focus back to Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So there we have it, God is love and\u00a0we are called to love others\u00a0as he does.\u00a0 Jesus loves all of us, even those who reject him.\u00a0 He loved the Pharisees, and he loved Judas, Pontius Pilate and even the soldiers that nailed him to the cross.\u00a0 What he didn’t do was agree with everything they did.\u00a0 What I want you to remember as you go forward this week, is that we are to love one another, not just with the fuzzy warm feelings type of\u00a0love that we see in the movies.\u00a0 No – \u00a0we are to love one another as Jesus loves us – unconditional, never ending self sacrificial love that is honest, and does not run away when times are tough.\u00a0 The kind of love that will not only give someone a hug when they are sad, but will rebuke them when they do wrong.\u00a0 That is true love, and it is not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in learning more about the love of God through Jesus Christ please use the Contact us form or leave a comment on this post.
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The Word This Week Acts 8:26-40Psalm 22:25-311 John 4:7-21John 15:1-8 Thoughts on The Word ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————1 John 4:7-21 (NRSV) Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God\u2019s love was revealed … Continue reading “Sunday May 6th 2012 – God is love”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}